1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the erection of elevator systems for multi-story buildings. Such systems include guide rails which are mounted within the elevator shaft for guiding the travel of the elevator car, various accoutrements which are mounted about the elevator shaft (such as doorframes, headers, call buttons, indicator lights, and the associated wiring), the elevator car assembly with its respective accoutrements, the drive system for raising and lowering the car.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional installation techniques, the aforementioned parts of the elevator system are not installed until the building itself, or at least the structural portion thereof, is substantially complete. This approach is time consuming, complicated and expensive for a number of reasons. Because of the necessity for working within an already constructed building, and due to the fact that the elevator shaft and guide rails are formed as integral parts of the building structure, the elevator system is necessarily delivered to the construction site in relatively small component parts which are assembled at the construction site, mostly within the building. Working within the building further requires a number of specialized techniques for manuevering, assembling, and properly aligning the various parts of the system within the confines of the building structure. As a result, the installation of an elevator system, even in a building of relatively modest height, may typically require one to three months, and must be performed by a relatively large crew of specialized artisans. This not only prolongs the construction process, but also adds substantially to its cost.
One of the factors contributing to the duration and cost of elevator installation operations is the duplication of work. For example, various sub-assemblies of the overall system, such as the elevator car, are typically fully assembled at their respective manufacturing plants for inspection, adjustments, testing and the like. These sub-assemblies must then be disassembled and shipped to the construction site, only to be re-assembled within the substantially completed building as noted above. A partial solution to this problem has been presented by certain partial prefabrication techniques used in various European countries. These techniques have permitted at least the elevator car to be shipped to the construction site and installed in the building in a substantially assembled condition. However, these techniques do not provide a complete and adequate solution to the problems outlined above.